What Are The Marks On These Pieces Of Wood?

On our recent trip to Oregon we walked along the docks in Astoria, right near the original Bumble Bee Tuna cannery on the Columbia River.

All of the wood on the docks, the railings and even the railroad ties look like the following. There was a mixture of old wood and new and it all looked like this:

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Do the "dashes" serve a purpose? Are they perhaps marks from where preservative was injected?

If you are ever in Astoria, OR stop for a snack/meal at Coffee Girl, right inside the old cannery on Pier 39. They still serve their customers at the original counter that the Coffee Girl used to serve coffee to the cannery workers. Great food and greater coffee.

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Outside the cafe, but still inside the cannery, they've created a very rustic museum highlighting the history of the cannery, with boats, cannery equipment, lots of pictures, etc. You can go into the power room and see a few different generations of the generators and other power distribution equipment. It's a pretty cool place.

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Reply to
DerbyDad03
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Yes - it is pressure treated wood and the marks are from the"wheels" that drive the wood through the treating process - and help the treatment penetrate deeper into the wood

Reply to
Clare Snyder

And yet we don't see the marks on *all* pressure treated wood. At least I where I live, even on wooden docks. Maybe it's a west coast thing?

Reply to
DerbyDad03

At least *not* where I live...

Reply to
DerbyDad03

DerbyDad03 on Fri, 14 Jun 2019 19:04:46 -0700 (PDT) typed in rec.woodworking the following:

Yes.

Reply to
pyotr filipivich

Here is an answer taken right off of the CWC webpage:

Incising is the process of cutting many small slits into the surface of a piece of wood in order to increase the amount of preservative taken up by the wood during treatment. Some wood species are particularly hard to treat, and incising is necessary to meet the penetration requirements in CSA standards. Non-incised CCA-treated wood will have a shorter service life than incised CCA-treated wood, but the difference may not be noticeable in the short term (under 20 years) in relatively low decay hazards such as decking. For wood in critical structural applications under conditions conducive to decay, incising could make the difference between 4 and >40 years service. Incising is not necessary with borate-treatment, because borate diffuses to achieve the required penetration. With borate-treated wood, there in no difference in performance between non-incised and incised, provided the target chemical content is achieved. There is a strength-loss penalty for incising, which is addressed during structural design.

The slits or incisions are on all 4 sides in any lumber I have seen

Reply to
Clare Snyder

As others have stated, I have heard it's a quality thing. The cuts aid preservative penetration and make for a better product, at a value-added price of course...

Reply to
Brewster

Not to mention that it makes the wood look a lot cooler. ;-)

Reply to
DerbyDad03

It's probably where you live in some applications, you just might not notice it often. Here in south Louisiana, all the wooden cross members on the older wooden high line poles have those slit marks.

I had salvaged some 4X4 cross members, long ago. I had supposed they were treated, but had no idea the slits were part of the treatment process. Cutting/sawing it, to make a porch swing, produced a foul odor, from the chemical(s) no doubt.

Sonny

Reply to
Sonny

They use to treat it with a copper arsenic compound. Worked well, but - it was toxic. So in the interest of saving the environment, that formula was replaced with copper-sulfate. That said, the smell you had may have been from the wood itself. Somme of them can smell pretty bad when sawn.

Reply to
pyotr filipivich

Or the "foul smell" was Creosote, prolly the most widely used industrial wood preservative 'back in the day' for utility poles, railroad crossties, etc.

I remember as a kid in the `50s & `60s the unmistakable smell of Creosote being a pretty common thing, especially during the hot summer months. That once familiar odor has now disappeared.

Reply to
Spalted Walt

And good riddance. I didn't have to even smell it to break out in hives. Nasty stuff.

Reply to
krw

The foul smell on my salvaged pieces wasn't creosote. The cross pieces we re not treated with creosote. Only the poles were.

Albeit, despite creosote smelling bad, it's still around in older pieces, p oles, posts. Some of the high line poles on my street are creosote treated . Related: As to the child nursery, next door, the kids wait for the schoo l bus at the road, near a pole and the ditch. The kids like to watch the m innows in the ditch, hugging the post as they watch, leaning over the "view ". I wrapped the pole, up to 8' with "decorative" lumber (red cedar), to p rotect the kids from the burns from the creosote. The wrapping is easily r emovable, for any utility maintenance, work, etc.

Sonny

Reply to
Sonny

were not treated with creosote. Only the poles were.

poles, posts. Some of the high line poles on my street are creosote treat ed. Related: As to the child nursery, next door, the kids wait for the sch ool bus at the road, near a pole and the ditch. The kids like to watch the minnows in the ditch, hugging the post as they watch, leaning over the "vi ew". I wrapped the pole, up to 8' with "decorative" lumber (red cedar), to protect the kids from the burns from the creosote. The wrapping is easily removable, for any utility maintenance, work, etc.

On behalf of the children, thank you!

Reply to
DerbyDad03

+1
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Reply to
Spalted Walt

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